8 American Flag Images
Today we have a grand collection of American Flag Images! There are some amazing Rubber Stamp Flag graphics with a space for writing your own sentiment. One Flag serves as the backdrop to the Declaration of Independence. This one really brings out proud, patriotic emotions for me! All are nice Patriotic Images to use in your Crafts and Creative Projects. I think they would be fun to color in as well!
Patriotic American Flag Images
Here is the latest addition to this collection. This is another classic looking American Flag Clipart picture, from the same 1940’s book as below. This one is also waving in the breeze, but it must be an even breezier day as it you can see how it’s gathering up on itself. I like the effect of the movement on this one. It also has 2 tassels hanging off of the pole, I would imagine that these would be gold metallic in real life. Quite a striking picture!
Shown above is a classic looking American Flag Image. This one shows the flag on a pole, waving in the breeze. This one was scanned from a circa 1940’s Printer’s book.
This one looks a bit like a flag bunting the way it wraps around, but it still has the poles attached at the top. I like the way it drapes.
Here is the latest addition to this collection. This next one is from a late 1800’s Printer’s book. It has a few tassels on it and a bit of extra fabric at the top of the pole.
This next one is a Shield that is decorated like an American flag. It has a ribbon on it where you can add some text to this patriotic picture!
Featured above is a marvelous little Patriotic Image from a Vintage, Circa 1880’s, Rubber Stamp Catalog in my collection! Here we see an American Flag wrapped around a flagpole. There is a large Banner that flows over it. The top image was an advertisement for W. S. Richardson. I wonder if he was running for office, or it is the name of a company. Also, I am considering that perhaps it is even the name of a Naval vessel or something similar. I have removed the text on the first image so that you can write what you like on the lower one. There is a little space on it where you can write a name or some other text. It is a truly such a nice primitive looking graphic!
Here we have a Vintage Declaration of Independence Image. Shown above is a black and white image of an American Flag, with a copy of the Declaration of Independence on top of it. There is also a beautiful Feather Quill Pen. This really is a poignant illustration of such an important document, representing hard fought freedom from the British in the Revolutionary war. The Pen is also nice because it represents the “Power of the Pen” with the signatures of our founding fathers embedded forever from it! This one was scanned from a 1940’s Vintage Clip Art book from my collection.
I hope you enjoyed this curated collection! You might also like our 4th of July Images HERE and our Uncle Sam Images HERE.
DJU says
Dear Karen–I always enjoy downloading your clip art offerings, because you have an amazing collection and have been very generous in sharing your images with the general public. But–
The last picture needs to be removed and not included in your collection of free vintage clip art. The children are doing what was called “The Bellamy Salute”, so its date of 1920 (or even earlier) is indicative of what was acceptable back then, but is now highly inappropriate. Francis Bellamy composed “The Pledge of Allegiance” back in 1892. Although Bellamy was not the originator of the salute, he described it as what school children should be doing while reciting The Pledge of Allegiance. In the 1920s, people began objecting to the “Bellamy Salute” because it was adopted by the Fascists, then later by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. As a result, schools across America began eliminating the Salute. On 12/22/1942, Congress officially dropped the Bellamy Salute and switched to the hand over the heart when saying The Pledge of Allegiance.
I suggest you omit this illustration from future offerings because it is offensive to Jews like myself. Would you offer vintage, but highly racist illustrations of Black or Asian children as free clip art, even though they might seem “cute”? Of course not. So why are you including this image of children doing the Nazi salute? While such an illustration might be of interest to a limited audience of say, historians tracing the origins of the Nazi salute, I don’t feel it would be of much use to the general public. Who in their right mind would use such an image? I’m sure you have plenty of other vintage illustrations of patriotic children you could substitute for this one. Thank you.
graphicsfairy says
Thank you so much for explaining this! I shared your post with Karen and she had no idea, she thought they were pointing at the flag and wanted me to let you know she will be removing it right away! We appreciate your taking the time to point this out to us. Have a wonderful day 🙂
Sarah says
Hi Karen,
These patriotic images are so cute! To share a little history with you, the 1920’s image of the little girls with their arms raised towards the flag – they were actually saying the pledge of allegiance. That is how it was done prior to WWII. It was deemed to be too similar to the the Nazi salute, so in 1942 Congress changed it to our right hand over our heart like we do today. I don’t think many people know the fascinating history of our flag and the different ways we have honored it over the years.
I hope you and your are all well.
Sarah
graphicsfairy says
Wow Sarah!! Thanks so much for sharing that, I had no idea! Have a great weekend 🙂
Linda Gonzales says
Hello; I think you may have given us an image that is inappropriate…the “sweet Vintage Patriotic Children Image “…Sorry, but it looks like they are giving the Nazi salute…didn’t we always hold our hands over our hearts, when saying the Pledge of Allegiance? I would never feel comfortable using this image…
graphicsfairy says
Hi Linda, I understand your feelings. I was actually just given this explanation from one of our readers today and had no idea, but you might find this interesting as well, “To share a little history with you, the 1920’s image of the little girls with their arms raised towards the flag – they were actually saying the pledge of allegiance. That is how it was done prior to WWII. It was deemed to be too similar to the the Nazi salute, so in 1942 Congress changed it to our right hand over our heart like we do today. I don’t think many people know the fascinating history of our flag and the different ways we have honored it over the years.”
Samuel G. Guss says
Love this historical tidbit! Thanks to The Graphics Fairy and Sarah for the explanation of the Pledge of Allegiance image.
graphicsfairy says
Thanks so much Samuel, and I thank Sarah as well 🙂